Advisor urges Pudong to create a special court for financial lawsuits

A member of the Pudong Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference says a special financial court should be set up in Pudong, as Shanghai is becoming an international financial center.Yang Yudong, the director of a local financial newspaper, submitted the proposal during a committee conference early this week. The CPPCC is an advisory body to the government in the country.Pudong is currently home to 343 financial institutions, including 224 overseas ones. The value-added output of the finance sector in Pudong reached 21.66 billion yuan (US$2.67 billion) in 2004, accounting for 12.1 percent of the region's gross domestic product."All of this will help make Shanghai an international financial center. But it isn't enough," Yang said. "Compared with other global financial centers, we lack a proper legal environment and talented people."The director suggested setting up a financial court in Pudong, similar to intellectual property courts and juvenile courts, as the number of financial crimes and lawsuits continues to increase with the establishments of more banks, brokerages and other financial service companies in Pudong.The Pudong New Area People's Court accepted 1,651 financial cases in 2004, a 25 percent increase from the previous year. During the first nine months of last year, the court accepted 1,788 financial cases, an increase of 42.7 percent year-on-year.Many regular judges lack financial knowledge needed to try such cases properly, Yang said.He said setting up a special court to hear financial cases would make it easier to train a small group of judges to handle the proceedings."In this way, all financial disputes can be solved in the Pudong court no matter where they take place," Yang said.Fang Jun, a spokesman for the Pudong court, said it's a good idea."But it isn't a simple thing. It needs coordination of the government and the court," Fang said.Liu Chunquan, a local lawyer specialized in financial laws, doesn't think it is necessary to set up such a special court, however."The key is to train more professional judges who understand the law and foreign languages. These judges can deal with this type of case especially. It doesn't matter whether an independent court is set or not," he said.